MIDDLETOWN — Challenger Donna Perry attacked incumbent state Sen. M. Teresa Paiva Weed’s conflict of interest over gambling issues.

Candidate Lou DiPalma said he would not accept a legislative perk of free health coverage if he defeats incumbent Sen. June Gibbs.

And incumbent Sen. Charles Levesque staunchly and angrily defended the pay and benefits that unionized public employees and state legislators receive.

Candidates for state Senate from the East Bay answered questions about the economy, state finances and gambling at a forum attended by about 50 people at Middletown Public Library last night. The forum was organized by Concerned Citizens About Casino Gambling, which provided the questions to the candidates in advance and then had moderator Keith Stokes, executive director of the Newport County Chamber of Commerce, pose them last night.

Levesque, a Democrat representing District 11 in Bristol and Portsmouth, is in a three-way race against Republican Christopher Ottiano and independent John Stephen Vitkevich. He grew prickly after his fellow candidates talked about the need to rein in benefits and pay for public employees. He argued that decent compensation is necessary to “attract good people” and that as a firm believer in collective bargaining, contracts must be honored.

Communication is necessary to deal with the state and the nation’s troubled finances, he said, but there “can’t be a conversation when we point at each other and say he is getting more than me and he is getting more than me. We are all Americans.”

Levesque, who unlike some other lawmakers has not voluntarily agreed to pay a share of his legislator’s free health insurance, said that he devotes his time and energy to being a senator as if it were a fulltime job, not a part-time one.

The longtime legislator said he voted several years ago against some tax cuts, including the motor vehicle phaseout, fearing that they would lead to the budget problems the state is facing today.

“There is not a lot of waste in government. … Please don’t tell me we are wasting money,” he said, explaining that most tax dollars are going toward supporting education for children and medical and nursing care for seniors.

He was responding to a statement by Ottiano, who said, “We have to weed out that waste and find that abuse” in state government. Later in the forum, Ottiano said, the state’s finances have been so poorly managed that “we are actually hurting our ability to help each other.”

Vitkevich said, “Maybe we all have to learn how to do more with less.”

Perry, the head of the state Republican Party, pointed out that Weed never votes on gambling issues, when Stokes asked a question about gambling. Paiva Weed had just finished explaining that her law firm represents Newport Grand — and has since she was in high school — and that she recuses herself from participating in gambling discussions or votes to avoid a conflict of interest.

“I do think it’s unfortunate to have your sitting senator have to recuse themself from votes on a gambling facility when it is such a central part of the economy of Rhode Island. I’m sorry, I think it’s poor judgment. I understand people have to make a living. … With the [looming potential for bankruptcy] at Twin River, there will be more and more pressure from the state to get a lot more revenue out of Newport Grand. “The senator cannot take, pass votes. I think that’s very unfortunate and something for people to think about.”

Many of the candidates said they would oppose any expansion of gambling. Middletown Town Councilman Lou DiPalma, a Democrat who is challenging Gibbs, a Republican, in District 12 (Little Compton, Middletown, Newport and Tiverton) said the state needs to expand its economy and end its reliance on gambling revenues by becoming a leader in ocean technologies and such green industries as energy produced by wind and wave power.

Gibbs, who is very cool to gambling, said, “I don’t know what we will do if [Twin River] fails, but I will be very happy if they do.”

Levesque, who described gambling as a form of entertainment that existed long before state government began regulating it and profiting from it, said Twin River “may be too big …[and we] may not be able to let it fail.”

Most of the candidates supported the idea of consolidating government services.

“Do we need 39 towns, 39 school systems, 39 police departments?” asked Ottiano. “We have an enormous potential for economies of scale.”

But Levesque, who commended the regional collaborative organizations that have pioneered the purchasing of goods and services for various communities, cautioned against going too far. He’s proud of his town having built Portsmouth High School, his alma mater, and said, “I don’t want to be a graduate of P.S. 137 or whatever.”

On the subject of paying for maintenance and repairs at the Claiborne Pell Bridge and Mount Hope Bridge, Levesque said the state should not have ended tolls at the span connecting Bristol and Portsmouth.

Ottiano said, “I don’t see why we haven’t given more consideration” to tolls on Interstate 95 to produce revenues that could be used for the bridge expenses.

“I think there is a federal law that says we can’t,” Gibbs replied.

DiPalma said that tolls paid by those who use the Pell Bridge shouldn’t go toward the Mount Hope Bridge.

Perry said the legislation capping a toll at the Mount Hope Bridge to 35 cents, which makes the cost of a toll-collecting system unprofitable, “has to be reversed.”

Paiva Weed said the dilemma over how to finance the bridges is “symptomatic of the dysfunctional way that we fund our transportation in this state.”

As the senate’s majority leader, Paiva Weed told the audience, “You will have no stronger voice for the issues that affect Jamestown and Newport than me.”

Said her opponent, “This is a very urgent election … Rhode Island is at the tipping point.”

rsalit@projo.com